U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in St. Petersburg on Friday, as former President Donald Trump publicly urged Moscow to move forward with a ceasefire in Ukraine.
This marks Witkoff’s third meeting with Putin this year, though efforts by the U.S. to secure a full ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine have yet to yield significant results.
Trump, voicing his frustration over the stalled negotiations, posted on social media Friday: “Russia has to get moving. Too many people are DYING, thousands a week, in a terrible and senseless war.” (A typo in the original post spelled “ere” instead of “are.”)
The meeting took place as the UK and Germany hosted a summit of Ukraine’s allies in Brussels, where 50 nations pledged €21 billion (approximately £18.2 billion) in military assistance for Ukraine.
Ahead of the meeting, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov cautioned that no major breakthroughs were expected, describing the diplomatic process as one of "ongoing normalization."
Before his meeting with Putin, Witkoff first sat down with Kirill Dmitriev, head of Russia’s sovereign wealth fund, at the Grand Hotel Europe in St. Petersburg, where a conference on stainless steel and the Russian market was underway. Dmitriev, 49, had visited Washington, D.C., last week—becoming the highest-ranking Russian official to do so since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
When asked whether a Trump-Putin meeting could be arranged, Peskov said: “Let’s see. It depends on what Witkoff has come with.”
Trump has repeatedly claimed he could end the war within 24 hours if returned to the White House. On Friday, he reiterated that the war “should have never happened, and wouldn’t have happened, if I were President!!!”
Tensions between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky have simmered since Trump’s second term began, culminating in a heated Oval Office exchange this February.
A recent attempt by the U.S. to broker a limited ceasefire in the Black Sea faltered when Russia demanded the lifting of sanctions imposed after its full-scale invasion.
Trump has since expressed anger over the lack of progress, saying he is “very angry” and “pissed off” with Putin for dragging out ceasefire negotiations.
Earlier this week, a rare prisoner exchange was carried out between Washington and Moscow. Ksenia Karelina, a Russian-American who was sentenced to 12 years in a Russian prison for donating $51 to a Ukrainian charity in early 2022, was released Thursday morning.
She was exchanged for Arthur Petrov, a dual German-Russian citizen arrested in Cyprus last year on charges of illegally exporting microelectronics to Russian military-linked firms.
